2021-04-27
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The last chervonets of the last Emperor
July marks the 103-year anniversary of the tragic execution of the Romanov royal family in Yekaterinburg. On the bloody altar of the revolution were sacrificed the lives of people whose names a few years ago were pronounced with reverence and sacred awe. In the 18th year, neither high spiritual impulses nor heartfelt loyalty to the Fatherland saved the heirs to the Russian throne from death...
The reign of the last emperor fell on a difficult period. The revolution of 1905 and the First World War brought confusion and disrupted the usual age-old way of life in Russia. Nicholas II ascended the throne in May 1896, and since then has tried to do everything in his power to stabilize the internal life of the Russian Empire, as well as to strengthen its international position.
In the 90s, there is a period of active industrial growth, and with it the state budget of Russia. In order to 'catch up and overtake' the advanced countries of Europe, Russia had to take a worthy and decisive step. One of these measures was the monetary reform initiated by the 'grandfather of Russian industrialization', then Finance Minister Sergei Witte.
A high intellectual and professional in his field, Witte understood that Russia needed a hard currency backed by gold. Therefore, since 1895, he has been implementing a series of measures called monetary reform.
In her honor, in 1997, the Bank of Russia even issued 10 thousand commemorative coins with a face value of 3 rubles with a portrait of the famous Minister of Finance on the reverse. However, the material in this case was 900-grade silver, not gold.
At that time, the world was already switching to gold and foreign exchange operations, and the domestic silver ruble was frankly becoming uninteresting to anyone. The reform successfully solved a number of urgent tasks, namely: gradually transferred the country to the gold standard, established a single exchange rate of paper money for gold.
But the most important thing is that in fact the ruble was devalued by 1/3. Yes, so competently that no one felt it, and the internal debt of the state was fully repaid.
Two types of ten-ruble coins were minted from 900-proof gold: 'imperials '(12.9 grams) and' lightweight ' chervonets (8.6 grams). Moreover, the first variety of coins was minted only 125 copies a year, and today you will not find them with fire in the afternoon.
The circulation of 'lite' is 60 million copies. But among them there are rarities, the cost of which in the numismatic markets starts from the mark of 17 million rubles. (!). We are talking about chervonets minted at the St. Petersburg Mint in 1906 in an extremely small edition. This 'pure gold 1 spool' contains 7.74 g of 900-grade precious metal.
It is interesting that initially it was supposed to introduce a completely new monetary unit - 'rus'. Externally, it differed from the previous ruble only in its name. When converted to gold, the 'russ' had a lower value, in general, the type of coins remained unchanged: the same obverse with a portrait of Emperor Nicholas II, and the reverse ‒ with a double-headed eagle. In 1895, 5 test samples were even minted. But too drastic changes could cause trouble among the already grumbling population. Therefore, it was decided to leave the good old 'rubles' as they are.
Alas, these financial measures, supported by the emperor and aimed at strengthening the ruble, were the last in the history of the Russian Empire. The outbreak of the First World War, and then the October revolution, left no chance for any socio-economic development of the country. And the Romanov dynasty itself suffered the terrible fate of the victims of a bloody struggle for power.
Today, the money of tsarist Russia is highly valued as financial evidence of the former power of the Russian Empire. You can add Nikolaev rubles to your online collection using the program HOBBYKEEPER ONLINE, which is created specifically for collectors coins, brands, postcards, banknotes, pictures. Its user-friendly functionality allows you to edit descriptions, keep statistics of transactions, exchange information, generate and share links with collectors from around the world.
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